It will be the 25-year-old former Grantham Athletic Club member's first senior international appearance for his country.

The selection was made on the back of some recent good form, including helping his Notts Athletic Club team to the Midland 12 Stage Road Relay Championship gold medal at Sutton Park, Birmingham, earlier this month.

Competing in the same leg as some international competitors from Kenya and Burundi, who had represented their countries at the World Cross Country Championships, Ian completed the 8.6km in 26min 16sec to help give Notts AC the win by more than four minutes. His time was the second fastest overall.

He also put in a solid performance to win the Notts Easter 10km in 33:47 at Wollaton Park, Nottingham, last month.

Of the four athletes in the England team travelling to France, Ian has the second fastest 10km personal best at 29:30.

The time was achieved when he won the Leeds Abbey 10km Dash in November from former Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Dan Robinson, beating his previous best by 80 seconds.

Ian said that he was looking forwards to representing his country and hopeful of a good result.

He said: "Without knowing too much about the race and the quality of other people in it, I will concentrate on the others in the England team as I will have a better idea as to where I should finish.

"I would very much like to run a quick time but a lot will depend on the course and the weather conditions.

"I'm hoping for warmer conditions than what we've experienced recently."